“The term sexting often describes a broad range of behaviors that differ radically in terms of the actors, motivations, and tactics involved. In this Note, the term ‘sexting’ refers to the self-production and distribution by cell phone of sexually explicit images in the course of consensual, voluntary activity by teenagers. This definition describes a phenomenon differing from the use of texting by sexual predators to exploit youth, a set of issues that is not addressed here, and the use of sexting to cyberbully. This Note focuses primarily on the typical sexting case involving the limited exchange of provocative messages concerning consensual sexual activity between willing participants.

The prevalence of sexting and the severity of its consequences have prompted state and federal policymakers to consider various legislative proposals, from crafting new criminal offenses to introducing educational programs. In exploring appropriate legal responses to sexting, this Note attempts to strike a balance between competing policy objectives, such as teenage privacy and the state’s interest in preventing child sexual abuse and child pornography, while respecting the extent to which the digital revolution changed how teenagers communicate and interact in social spaces. While society may want to minimize teenagers’ production and distribution of provocative images even under consensual and private circumstances, sexting should be exempt from treatment under child pornography statutes. In Part I, this Note explores the sexting phenomenon and its underlying causes in the context of a digital generation of teenagers. Part II surveys the varied responses of authorities to sexting incidents, including prosecutors and state legislators. Part III discusses the range of policy issues implicated in designing an appropriate legal framework to address sexting. Part IV concludes by suggesting several legislative components that could help authorities discipline the harms of sexting without resorting to ill-suited child pornography statutes.”

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “[T]he real revelation wasn’t the seedy, vulgar underbelly of hetero porn – that was no surprise to [David Foster Wallace]. It was the trend towards degradation porn, towards the mainstreaming of porn premised on male dominance and female subservience, towards sperm spatters used as evidence of dominance, towards simulated rape porn, sadism with paid consent. That was what really concerned Wallace. And it’s that trend which is the real problem with porn.”

Ann Coulter writing at Townhall: “Fortunately, that’s the one advantage we have in this war. In a lucky stroke, all the terrorists are swarthy, foreign-born, Muslim males. Only because the terrorists are Muslims do we pretend not to notice who keeps trying to blow up our planes . . . If the government did nothing more than have a five-minute conversation with the one passenger per flight born outside the U.S., you’d need 90 percent fewer Transportation Security Administration agents and airlines would be far safer than they are now. Instead, Napolitano just keeps ordering more invasive searches of all passengers, without exception — except members of Congress and government officials, who get VIP treatment, so they never know what she’s doing to the rest of us.”

WDBO: “The backlash continues over those new TSA screening measures, and now one Central Florida airport has decided to go with a private security screening firm. Orlando Sanford International Airport has decided to opt out from TSA screening.”

The Christian Institute: “School children are being encouraged to watch a series of ‘graphic’ videos depicting casual sex, under a new NHS scheme to promote condom use. The NHS uploaded the interactive clips to the video sharing website, YouTube. But the clips are likely to heighten concerns about the increasingly explicit nature of youngsters’ sex education.”

Corruption Chronicles: “As the U.S. government retaliates against an American for refusing to allow airport security to grope his genitals, the nation’s Homeland Security secretary considers waiving the intrusive ‘pat-downs’ for Muslim women who consider them offensive.”

The Rutherford Institute: (links to the complaint) “In a case involving the continuing encroachment of modern technology upon personal privacy, The Rutherford Institute has filed a Fourth Amendment lawsuit in federal court against Janet Napolitano, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and John Pistole, administrator of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA), on behalf of two airline pilots who refused to submit to airport security screening which relies on advanced imaging technology that exposes intimate details of a person’s body to government agents.”

Boston.com / Dedham: “Also winning quick approval was a new ‘adult use’ zoning district, which includes all of the Legacy Place shopping complex and nearby Stergis Way. The zoning would allow strip clubs and stores selling sex toys and X-rated materials.”

USA Today: “Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday that the agency has an ‘open ear’ to any ‘adjustments’ to security measures in place at the nation’s airports, as some groups and individuals continued to call for a boycott of full-body scanning machines that they complain are invasive.”

Weatherford Democrat: “A new zoning code was approved on its first reading by the Weatherford City Council this past week . . . Under the current zoning code, a sexually-oriented business could set up shop anywhere in town. The new zoning code limits those areas, but due to constitutional rights, cannot ban them.”

Geneva Patch: “A proposed zoning amendment and licensing regulations would limit adult businesses that want to locate in Geneva to two industrial areas on the city’s far East Side. The Plan Commission unanimously approved the amendment Thursday after holding a public hearing on the issue.”

The Boston Globe: “Dedham’s Special Town Meeting will take on a number of questions when it meets tomorrow night, from approving the police contract to setting new boundaries for an ‘adult use’ district in town.”

“This Article will detail how the UK has responded to the greater risks posed by illegal online content by successively extending the reach of the substantive criminal laws and by taking preventative measures. It will focus on the example of laws on obscene content on the internet and associated online behaviour and in particular on the ‘grooming’ offences, the law on extreme pornography and virtual child abuse images. An assessment of these offences against the ‘harm principle’ is made and while the internet’s role in facilitating such offences is acknowledged, the article argues that in some respect the legislation has overshot the mark.”

The Australian: “Amazon quietly stopped sales of the self-published electronic book The Paedophile’s Guide to Love & Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code Of Conduct yesterday, a day after defending it on the grounds of free speech.”

Associated Press: “Police are investigating whether the author of a guide for pedophiles did anything illegal even as they try to protect him from a threat posted on a local website.”

New York Times Editorial: “If the Supreme Court renders justice in a case it heard this month, Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association, it will strike down a California law barring the sale or rental of violent video games to anyone under 18. That would end a violation of free expression — but not prevent the states from finding other ways to support parents who do not want their children to play violent games.”

USA Today: “Expanding the obscenity umbrella would have a dramatic impact on America’s popular culture. Highly violent films or television programs without a hint of nudity or sexual content could potentially lose First Amendment protection. And if we decide that some ideas are so horrendous that they can be added to the obscene list, how can we ever put a cap on government intrusion?”

Brent Bozell writing at Townhall: “[I]f the issue isn’t indecency, but instead, say, obesity, so many of those titans of ‘tolerance’ suddenly become the censors. Behold San Francisco, the paradise of permissive sexual attitudes. The city council may welcome flowers in your hair, but they have just voted to ban ‘Happy Meal’ toys unless the ‘happy’ menu is low in fat and sodium, and includes fruits and vegetables.”

Scott Ott writing at Pajamas Media: “Without regard for threat potential, airline passengers of all ages can now be forced to make the choice between baring their nakedness before a federal agent, or getting a full-body fingertip groping by another federal agent. The Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) scanners — AKA strip-search machines — now stand watch in more than 65 airports nationwide, with their numbers set to grow by more than 40 percent at year’s end, thanks to your federal stimulus dollars.”

“Although the government’s interest in preventing harm to children has played a central role in justifying regulation of broadcast indecency by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), courts generally have failed to examine this asserted interest. In this Note, I argue that this failure has added great uncertainty to indecency regulation and that more thorough consideration of this interest may provide greater clarity on the boundaries of permissible speech. I first review the doctrinal history of the regulation of indecency, both within broadcasting and in other media, to demonstrate that the interest in preventing harm to children, though a central justification of the regulatory scheme, has been ill defined. I then examine the recent case of FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. to illustrate that the vagueness of the current FCC indecency standard raises constitutional concerns. I contend that the vagueness may derive, at least in part, from courts’ failure to identify the type of harm to children that the government seeks to prevent through restrictions on indecent speech. Although the FCC’s structure may be inapt for identifying speech that is harmful to children, courts should undertake an investigation into the nature of the harm that indecency regulation seeks to prevent in order to provide limits on the scope of government authority. In the final Part, I therefore analyze five potential government interests, each stemming from a distinct potential harm that indecent broadcasting may create, and demonstrate how identifying the harm that indecency regulation is trying to address may restrict and define the scope of permissible government action.”

OneNewsNow: “Though White Ribbons Against Pornography (WRAP) Week is meant to make a statement about illegal pornography and the lack of enforcement against it, its aim is also to reach out to those affected by the industry.”

LifeSiteNews: “‘There is one way in which the media is most dangerous,’ and which pervades all forms of media, he explained. Pornography ‘is probably the most dangerous thing on earth.’ According to Westen, ‘there’s more loss in the culture wars from this enemy than from any other, because with this we lose our souls, we get out of the right to life.’”

Morning Sentinel: “Prohibiting pornography, nudity, escort services and massage parlors downtown is once again on the boiler plate. Planning Board members in the next few weeks will consider making a recommendation to the City Council about whether such adult entertainment should be allowed between Union Street and Spring Street and Elm Street and the Kennebec River.”

Ken Klukowski writing at Townhall: “This case should present an interesting split. Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia seemed to side with the video makers. His basic question was, what part of the government shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech don’t you understand? It seemed that Justice Elena Kagan might be with Scalia on that point, as might Justice Sonia Sotomayor . . . Justice Stephen Breyer sided with Roberts and Alito, all of whom were asking if there’s nothing a state can do to limit a child’s access to such video games.”

USA Today: “Daniel Remold, a journalism professor at the University of Tampa, says his passion is campus media. Can he help it if the big story over the last decade is about sex? His new book, Sex and the University: Celebrity, Controversy, and a Student Journalism Revolution (Rutgers University Press), provides insights gleaned from reading more than 2,500 student sex columns. He tells USA TODAY why they matter.”

Associated Press: “Voters in a western Massachusetts city have decided not to lose their shirts over at least one ballot question. Pittsfield voters soundly rejected on Tuesday a measure pushing for women to be allowed to walk around town topless.”

OneNewsNow: “Pat Trueman, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and former chief of the U.S. Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, notes that YouTube has a reputation for questionable material on its site, which includes pornography. But the Coalition for the War on Illegal Pornography has decided to make good use of it.”

Lyle Denniston reports at SCOTUSblog: “With Justice Stephen G. Breyer pushing the notion that ‘common sense’ can work as a constitutional principle, the Supreme Court on Tuesday looked for a workable way for states to keep younger kids away from truly violent video games, even while seemingly convinced that California has not found that way.”

“It is the nature of the looking that is at issue here. The ‘looking’ that is proscribed under the statute is ‘any looking of a clandestine, surreptitious, prying, or secretive nature.’ There can be no reasonable purpose for that kind of looking since, by definition, it is without the other person’s knowledge, and, therefore, it is without the other person’s consent. To look at someone in a clandestine or secret manner is to hide that looking from the other person, and it is that act that is proscribed by the statute. We hold that individuals of ordinary intelligence would comprehend the statute adequately to inform them of the proscribed conduct and that the statute is not unconstitutionally vague.”

Two Nations, One Web: Comparative Legal Approaches to Pornographic Obscenity by the United States and the United Kingdom
William T. Goldberg, 90 B.U. L. Rev. 2121 (2010)

“Modern American obscenity law has developed over a period of approximately fifty years. The foundation of the law is built around a single test, the ‘community standards test,’ which tasks a trier of fact with gauging whether given materials would be considered obscene by the standards of the average member of the community in which they are made available. If that trier of fact deems those materials obscene, then the producer or distributor of such materials may face fines or imprisonment. The application of the community standards test has been refined, but never fully clarified. Thus, questions debated at the test’s first official implementation by the Supreme Court in the 1950s are still in question today: What types of materials actually fall within the scope of obscenity? What is the proper definition of the ‘community’ from which we should draw our standards? What role should individual privacy rights play? How do political pressures impact the application of obscenity laws? More recently, how should this standard apply following technological advances, like the internet, which have expanded the volume and variety of potential obscenity available in any given place at any given moment? This Note examines the underlying issues in U.S. obscenity law that raise these questions, yet primarily focuses on the impact of the internet on modern obscenity law in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Part One examines these basic questions and explores their complexities. Part Two introduces and examines recent changes in U.K. law that address many of these same questions. Effective in 2009, the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 sharpened the United Kingdom’s definition of obscenity by imposing a strict liability offense for possession of ‘extreme pornography.’ Until this change, U.K. and U.S. obscenity laws were very similar, but this new Act imposes greater individual responsibility on consumers of such depictions, and also provides a far more precise definition of the prohibited materials. Part Three attempts to reconcile the tensions in U.S. law with the changes in U.K. law. The discussion focuses on the divergence in the laws and the consequence, if any, such divergence could, or should, have on American obscenity law.”

Joan Biskupic writing at USA Today: “On Tuesday, Supreme Court justices will hear arguments in the case, which could have sweeping consequences for consumers and entertainment media. California officials and their defenders say the ban is important to protect children. Publishers and filmmakers argue that if the Supreme Court sides with California, the action could chill creativity in other media.”

Shannon P. Duffy writing at Law.com: “As the sentencing guidelines for child pornography crimes have grown increasingly harsh, a strong trend has developed among federal judges to reject the proposed prison terms as draconian. Now two influential federal appellate courts — the 2nd and 3rd Circuits — have joined the trend and declared that the child pornography guidelines are seriously flawed, or at least that a trial judge wouldn’t be wrong for thinking so.” | United States v. Grober, No 09-1318 (3rd Cir. Oct. 26, 2010) [dissent begins at pg. 32]

Batavia Republican: “Although adult-use businesses could legally open in Geneva under the First Amendment, city officials are reviewing an ordinance that would regulate them . . . Community Development Director Dick Untch said there are no current proposals to open an adult business, such as an adult bookstore or an arcade. Still, he said the city should have the appropriate restrictions in place.”

Akron.com: “Sexually oriented businesses will come under more regulation if Norton City Council approves a resolution to amend Chapter 1292 of Title 6 of Part 12 of the city’s codified ordinances . . . If approved, the resolution would ‘prevent the deleterious location and concentration of sexually oriented business,’ according to the legislation.”

Christian Post: “Pornography is still ‘a very serious moral problem’ that is being ignored during by the U. S. Justice Department and the presidential administration, says the head of a conservative media watchdog. As the start of this year’s White Ribbon Against Pornography (WRAP) Week nears, Robert Peters, president of Morality in the Media, is hoping to draw attention to a looming American problem – pornography – and wants more action taken.”

ChristianNewsWire: “This year’s White Ribbon Against Pornography (WRAP) Week will run Sunday, October 31, through Sunday, November 7. The primary goal of the annual WRAP Week is to heighten public awareness of the harms associated with pornography and the need to enforce obscenity laws to curb the proliferation of hardcore adult pornography online and elsewhere.”

Blake Robinson writing at Public Discourse: “Socially responsible investing, once associated with causes like combating South African apartheid, has the potential to become a serious way to combat the harms pornography causes in our society. The proliferation of Corporate Responsibility departments at corporations attests to the continued importance of socially responsible investing, a practice that has and continues to have a serious impact on America’s leading businesses. It’s now time to apply these principles to the issue of pornography.”

“At issue before the appeals court are not the facts of the original case but whether attorneys for the women can keep their clients’ names private as they pursue the original litigation. The original complaint, which was filed in a Florida court in March 2008, identified the plaintiffs by their initials only. The women, who were filmed by GGW crews in Panama City, Fla., in March 2002, are now in their 20s.” Via How Appealing quoting AVN News. Complaint is here.

Bloomberg: “The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 2 will consider whether the First Amendment permits a California law that would bar the sale of ‘Postal II’ and other violent video games to minors . . . A ruling favoring California could mark a major shift in the high court’s reading of the First Amendment. California is asking the court to extend a 1968 ruling that put sales of sexually explicit materials to minors outside the ambit of the First Amendment.”

Rohen Peterson, The Emperor’s New Scanner: Muslim Women at the Intersection of the First Amendment and Full Body Scanners (March 6, 2010). Hastings Women’s Law Journal, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1684246

“With the introduction of full body scanners, the United States has signaled an increasingly stringent approach to air travel. However, it has not full considered the implication upon Muslim women. While agencies within the United States, such as the Transportation Security Agency, have reacted to concerns from the Muslim community, it has yet to take a proactive role in constructing a method that accommodates the Islamic faith.

This Note approaches Muslim women by identifying the sources of their faith in respect to modesty and clothing. Under the First Amendment, their faith is analyzed in context of airport security measures, particularly full body scanners. From this analysis, a better understanding of how full body scanners impact Muslim women, and the larger Muslim community, can be achieved while simultaneously promoting security and religious freedom.”

Peninsula Daily News: “The Jefferson County commissioners Monday approved extending a moratorium on the establishment of sexually oriented businesses for six months, after which time the county will be able to determine a permanent policy of regulation.”

Miami Herald: “Since the earthquake more than 7,300 boys and girls have been smuggled out of their homeland to the Dominican Republic by traffickers profiting on the hunger and desperation of Haitian children, and their families. In 2009, the figure was 950, according to one human rights group that monitors child trafficking at 10 border points.”

FOX News: “What is it with photo shoots about sexy schoolgirls? . . . Experts tell Pop Tarts that these instances of young women posing suggestively as school girls impact all women by promoting the ideal that the younger the woman, the more appealing she is.”

ChristianNewsWire: “In a case involving the continuing encroachment of modern technology upon personal privacy, The Rutherford Institute has come to the defense of an airline pilot who refused to submit to airport security screening that exposes intimate details of a person’s body to government agents.”

KENS 5 (San Antonio): “Under the current city ordinance, sexually oriented business must have a special permit and must operate within designated zones, away from schools and churches. But Clamp says some nightclubs and bars are employing women wearing pasties. Although the current ordinance doesn’t specify that as nudity, Clamp says they are now considering amending the ordinance to require more coverage.”

WQOW: “The Menomonie City Council will have to wait before taking a vote that could keep an adult business out.”

MercatorNet: “The women explain to us how it feels to be treated like a rented organ. ‘It is internally damaging. You become in your own mind what these people do and say with you. You wonder how could you let yourself do this and why do these people want to do this to you?’ Women who prostitute have described it as ‘paid rape’ and ‘voluntary slavery’. Prostitution is sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, often worse. His payment does not erase what we know about sexual violence, domestic violence and rape.”

Message from Patrick A. Trueman of www.PornHarms.com: “We have a wonderful, new development in the War on Illegal Pornography. We are beginning a series of online interviews with key people discussing pornography from various perspectives. The first three interviews were with author Mark Kastleman who is also a director of Candeo, the online pornography addiction recovery site.”

Boston Herald: “A Suffolk County program has identified more than 400 child prostitutes in the past five years, taking them off the streets and diverting them to social services in a program that Attorney General Martha Coakley wants to expand to the rest of the state.”

Associated Press: “A coalition of booksellers and Internet content providers will ask a judge to stop Massachusetts from enforcing an expansion of state obscenity law to include electronic communications that may be harmful to minors.”

Kennebec Journal: “A majority of voters at Wednesday night’s special town meeting at the junior high school voted to usher in an adult-entertainment ordinance that prohibits nudity in a commercial establishment.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “The operators of a Milwaukee tavern that features erotic dancing are suing the City of Milwaukee, claiming its method of regulating such entertainment is unconstitutional. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court by Six Star Holdings LLC and Ferol LLC. ”

Arizona Republic: “But Hayden ultimately decided her fame and earnings came at too great a cost. ‘The money ends up being spent on medical bills to pay for all the health problems you get from sleeping with so many people, drugs, pills, and alcohol to numb the pain, and lavish material items that make you feel a temporary high and happiness,’ said Hayden . . . ”

Chillicothe Gazette: “The city council is poised Monday to read a second piece of legislation regulating nude dancing clubs . . . In September, [the council approved] an ordinance establishing a section of law that defines a sexually oriented business and establishes criminal violations for those who establish a strip club and do not obey Ohio Revised Code as it pertains to strip clubs.”

SCNOW: “Last week, the Hartsville Planning Commission postponed sending a recommendation to Hartsville City Council for an ordinance regulating sexually-oriented businesses in the city while one of its members reviews a model ordinance after the city attorney said certain provisions of the model appear to be unconstitutional.”

The Christian Institute: “An investigation into a disturbing playground craze involving coloured wristbands and sexual acts between children has uncovered a hidden online world of teenagers, sex and porn, a BBC broadcaster has revealed.”

Breitbart: “The case of an alleged pimp suspected of abducting two teenage girls and keeping them captive while forcing them into prostitution could include dozens of other victims, authorities said Monday.”